Spring migration in full swing at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge
Amber Schiltz says she and son, Sawyer, woke up to the most glorious chorus of bird songs last weekend while camping at Two Rivers State Recreation Area.
“It was incredible,” she said. “I saw my first warbler. It’s something I look forward to every year.”
It’s a good sign of spring and summer, she said, and warmer weather ahead.
Schiltz, who works in the Fish and Wildlife Education Division of Nebraska Game and Parks, uses the Merlin App to identify birds by their song. They found a rose-breasted grosbeak, an Eastern towhee, a tufted titmouse, Baltimore orioles, a yellow-rumped warbler, a white-crowned sparrow, a brown thrasher, a gray catbird, a ruby-throated hummingbird and pelicans.
“It’s a great tool for anyone to use to learn more about the birds around them,” she said.
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Joel Jorgensen, nongame bird program manager for Nebraska Game and Parks, said the majority of songbirds that nest and raise their young in Nebraska — and points north in summer — have arrived or are migrating through.
Millions of birds are on the move, including several species of warblers, vireos, flycatcher, buntings, tanagers and orioles.
“In addition to songbirds, now is peak migration for a number of shorebirds and water birds,” he said. “While sandhill cranes and waterfowl get a lot of the fanfare, early and mid-May is the height of avian migration in Nebraska.”
May is Nebraska Bird Month and Saturday is National Migratory Bird Day.
With its many wetlands, the state is a great place to watch birds. The diverse areas include marshes, lakes, river and stream backwaters, oxbows, wet meadows, fens, forested swamps and seeps.
“Wetlands are highly productive — they produce lots of food and cover that birds like. And because of that, they probably have a better concentration of overall bird life than some other habitat types,” said Ted LaGrange, wetland program manager at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
If you want to travel farther than your backyard or don’t have a favorite spot to visit like the Schiltz family to see the spring migration, Game and Parks shared eight wetland areas that offer good birding opportunities.
Sawyer Schiltz loved his first camping trip of the spring and the chance to see a lot of birds.
“It was 23 million-billion thumbs up,” he told his mom.
Marsh Wren Saline Wetland: Located just north of Lincoln, this site is 150 acres of unique saline wetlands. It’s a great place to observe spring and fall migrants, including a variety of waterfowl, shorebirds and songbirds. About 2 miles of minimally maintained maintenance roads offer outstanding birding opportunities. In the summer, these roads can be overgrown, so boots and pants are recommended. Visitors may be able to view such species as eastern meadowlark, marsh wren, shorebirds and waterfowl.
Fontenelle Forest: The 1,500-acre area includes a variety of landscapes — deciduous forest, oak savannah and prairie, along with wetlands along the Missouri River. Seventeen miles of maintained trails, including a 1-mile, ADA-compliant boardwalk offering year-round opportunities to observe wildlife.
Fontenelle Forest attracts many migrants and breeding songbirds. The half-mile Marsh Trail offers great views of riparian birds, as well as forest birds. This trail can get muddy after rain. A few species you can observe include wood ducks, yellow-throated vireo and prothonotary warbler.
Ponca State Park: With its wetlands along the Missouri River, this a must-stop location during peak spring migration, when the forests come alive with singing migrant and resident passerines. Here the Missouri River is still unchanneled, resembling its original state with sandbars that offer refuge for shorebirds, including the piping plover. There are several places with scenic overlooks of the Missouri River valley that offer great views of bald eagles in winter. Ducks and snow geese migrate past the Missouri River in spring and fall and can be seen from a viewing blind.
Harvard Waterfowl Production Area: Rainwater Basin site consists of 760 acres of wetlands and 725 acres of upland habitat. These wetlands attract tens of thousands of snow, Canada, cackling and greater white-fronted geese in spring, with numbers peaking in mid-March with up to 500,000 waterfowl. Occasional flocks of sandhill cranes stop over, and bald eagles are regular visitors in early spring. Later in spring and summer, the main basin and several smaller wetlands to the south offer excellent shorebird watching. As with any Rainwater Basin wetland, check conditions before visiting as they can sometimes be dry.
Valentine National Wildlife Refuge: Nebraska’s largest national wildlife refuge contains a large number of Sandhill wetlands that attract a variety of wetland birds. At least 224 bird species have been sighted here. There are numerous marshes and shallow lakes that offer breeding habitat for western and pied-billed grebes, Forster’s and black terns, a dozen species of waterfowl, shorebirds and other water birds like American bitterns and soras. A 9-mile gravel auto tour road, starting at U.S. Highway 83, is great for bird viewing, and some of the lakes are open for kayaking or boating, offering additional viewing opportunities.
Kiowa Wildlife Management Area: The alkaline wetland area attracts various shorebirds, including nesting American avocets, and is designated a Nebraska Important Bird Area. Canada geese nest here, and about 20 waterfowl species have been reported, including cinnamon teal and large wintering goose and duck populations. Common migrant shorebirds include Baird’s, white-rumped and stilt sandpipers. Nesting shorebirds also include the black-necked stilt and likely Wilson’s phalarope and Wilson’s snipe.
Rowe Audubon Sanctuary: The 2,900-acre site attracts a variety of wetland and grassland birds. It is owned and operated by the National Audubon Society and includes a visitor center with educational displays, gift shop and viewing windows. The sanctuary protects prime sandhill crane and whooping crane stopover habitats, and guided and self-guided crane viewing opportunities are offered.
Lake Ogallala: Very attractive to migrant ducks, ospreys, Caspian terns, cliff swallows, gulls, American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants and other summering species, and it is used by numerous bald eagles and gulls in winter. An eagle-watching facility is available during peak periods, open from December to February on weekends or by scheduled appointments during the week.
Scott Wendel wasn’t sad about losing the property his family has farmed since 1912. He feels a sense of happiness and satisfaction about its next chapter.
Kit Lemon spent 31 years in law enforcement handling all types of tense situations. Nothing, she said, compares to her recent encounter with a coyote at Chalco Hills Recreation Area in Sarpy County.
Longtime Game and Parks employee and renowned turkey hunter died in his sleep after a day with family, just like he wanted.
Ralph Kohler is remembered for being a wonderful husband and father and an amazing waterfowl hunter. He and wife were award-winning ballroom dancers and are in the Nebraska Trapshooting Hall of Fame.
The Raptor Conservation Alliance rehabilitation center in Elmwood, Nebraska, cared for a record 664 birds in 2021 at its farm, which includes three large outbuildings and several large flight pens.
Since receiving a map of Omaha’s City Parks — and a box of colored push pins — and a whole new world opened up for the Mainellis as they try to visit every one.
Since they started, they’ve found pictures of coyotes, bobcats, whitetail deer, fox, turkeys, skunks, beavers, opossum, mink, woodchucks, a bald eagle and a bull snake.
A limpkin, a bird never before seen in Nebraska, was spotted at a wetlands mitigation pond near Gretna. The tropical shorebird’s typical range is in south Florida and central America.